Drug-Related Side Effects and Adverse Reactions ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Pinellia ; Plants, Medicinal ; poisoning

This article summarized the toxic components, toxication faeature and mechanism and clinical poisoning reports of Senecio spp. The distribution of major toxic components pyrrolizidine alkaloids (PAs) in Chinese medicinal herbs and the application of Senecio spp. in China were also recapitulated. The proposals for the application and development of Senecio spp. were put forward.
Animals ; Chemical and Drug Induced Liver Injury ; Humans ; Plant Poisoning ; etiology ; veterinary ; Plants, Medicinal ; chemistry ; poisoning ; toxicity ; Plants, Toxic ; chemistry ; poisoning ; toxicity ; Pyrrolizidine Alkaloids ; isolation & purification ; poisoning ; toxicity ; Senecio ; chemistry ; classification ; poisoning ; toxicity

The poisoning information database (PIDB) provides clinical toxicological information on commonly encountered toxic substances in Korea. The aim of this study was to estimate the coverage rate of the PIDB by comparing the database with the distribution of toxic substances that real poisoning patients presented to 20 emergency departments. Development of the PIDB started in 2007, and the number of toxic substances increased annually from 50 to 470 substances in 2014. We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of patients with toxic exposure who visited 20 emergency departments in Korea from January to December 2013. Identified toxic substances were classified as prescription drug, agricultural chemical, household product, animal or plant, herbal drug, or other. We calculated the coverage rate of the PIDB for both the number of poisoning cases and the kinds of toxic substances. A total of 10,887 cases of intoxication among 8,145 patients was collected. The 470 substances registered in the PIDB covered 89.3% of 8,891 identified cases related to poisoning, while the same substances only covered 45.3% of the 671 kinds of identified toxic substances. According to category, 211 prescription drugs, 58 agricultural chemicals, 28 household products, and 32 animals or plants were not covered by the PIDB. This study suggested that the PIDB covered a large proportion of real poisoning cases in Korea. However, the database should be continuously extended to provide information for even rare toxic substances.
Adolescent ; Adult ; Aged ; Animals ; Animals, Poisonous ; Child ; Child, Preschool ; Databases, Factual ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal/poisoning ; Emergency Service, Hospital ; Female ; Humans ; Infant ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Pesticides/poisoning ; Plants, Medicinal/poisoning ; Poisoning/*epidemiology ; Prescription Drugs/poisoning ; Republic of Korea ; Retrospective Studies ; Young Adult

When garlic (Allium sativum) was administered to rat per os simultaneously with cadmium, methylmercury and phenylmercury to detect the protective effect against the heavy metal poisoning, accumulation of heavy metals in liver, kidneys, bone and testes were decreased, and histopathological damages and the inhibition of serum alkaline phosphatase activities by heavy metals were reduced. Such effect of garlic was not shown in the 1.7% garlic treated group and most remarkable in the 6.7% garlic treated group. The protective effect of garlic was superior to those of 2,3 dimercapto-1-propanol (BAL) and D-penicillamine (PEN), and nearly similar to those of 2,3-dimercaptosuccinic acid (DMSA) and N-acetyl-DL-penicillamine (APEN), the current remedies, while garlic was not effective as a curative agent for heavy metal poisoning. The excretion of cadmium was enhanced, more through feces than urine by garlic but the effect to the urinary excretion of cadmium was not significant comparing with DMSA or APEN when cadmium was ip injected in the first 3 days during the 12 days of oral administration of DMSA, APEN or garlic.
Animals ; Cadmium/metabolism ; Cadmium Poisoning/metabolism/*prevention & control ; *Garlic ; Male ; Mercury/metabolism ; Mercury Poisoning/metabolism/*prevention & control ; *Plants, Medicinal ; Rats ; Rats, Inbred Strains ; Tissue Distribution

Due to increasing participation in outdoor activities, many people visit the emergency room for various symptoms after mistaking poisonous plants for medicinal herbs. The toxicity of Arisaematis rhizome is due to its content of calcium oxalate, which causes painful oropharyngeal edema, hypersalivation, aphonia, oral ulceration, esophageal erosion, and hypocalcemia. We report a case of accidental poisoning after chewing and spitting of the root of A. rhizome, resulting in focal symptoms-such as oral pain, swelling and drooling-that required only conservative management. A 54-year-old male and his 58-year-old wife developed oral pain, swelling and drooling after accidentally chewing and spitting the root of the A. rhizome plant as a medicinal herb. Their symptoms started immediately after chewing on and spitting out the root of A. rhizome, and they were unable to speak due to oral pain, swelling, and hypersalivation on arrival at the emergency department. They were treated with antihistamines and corticosteroids and painkillers. A few hours after treatment, they had improved and were discharged from the hospital.
Adrenal Cortex Hormones ; Aphonia ; Calcium Oxalate ; Edema ; Emergency Service, Hospital ; Histamine Antagonists ; Humans ; Hypocalcemia ; Male ; Mastication ; Middle Aged ; Oral Ulcer ; Plants ; Plants, Medicinal ; Plants, Toxic ; Poisoning* ; Rhizome ; Sialorrhea ; Spouses

OBJECTIVES: The most frequently cited health related slogan in North Korea is that socialistic medicine is preventive medicine. It implies that North Korea puts preventive medicine at the operational center of its national health care system. This study aimed at examining and comparing preventive medicine practices in North Korea with those of South Korea. METHODS: Efforts have been made to obtain a textbook for analysis its contents. Many people have iassisted in the study by joining the interview. Some of these people are as follows: a former professor of PyongYang Medical School, NK physicians living in South Korea, WHO staffs, diplomatic officials, etc. The major items of analysis consisted of industrial medicine and hygiene, nutrition, school health, epidemiology, health statistics and heath policy & management. RESULTS: Public health philosophy is finely rooted and well integrated in the operation of the North Korean national health care system, particularly in the area of industrial medicine and hygiene. Preventive medicine with a strong health surveillance system spanning a number of broad social organizations is a major tool to improve the health of the people in North Korea. The emphasis on preventive medicine has a close relationship with the 'Juche Philosophy' and the shortage of pharmaceuticals and medical equipment. To cope with the shortage problem, North Korean health workers are encouraged to grow medicinal herbs. We have found that they put little effort into teaching newly emerging diseases, such as AIDS, VDT syndrome, hazards of EMF, and agricultural chemical poisonings. Of the subjects of the preventive medicine text, 78.9% coincide with those of South Korean industrial health manuals and 34.2% with South Korean epidemiology texts. However, an absolute difference was found to exist between the heath policies and management systems. CONCLUSION: In North Korea, the concept of preventive medicine functions as the basic philosophic strategy of the national health care system. It differs greatly from the South Korean system in both practice and educational content. Its contribution to society is simply incomparable to that of South Korea. More communication and further study is called for in order to improve the preventive medicine practices in the future.
Delivery of Health Care ; Democratic People's Republic of Korea* ; Epidemiology ; Hygiene ; Korea ; Occupational Health ; Occupational Medicine ; Philosophy ; Plants, Medicinal ; Poisoning ; Preventive Medicine* ; Public Health ; School Health Services ; Schools, Medical

PURPOSE: Preparations of Aconitum roots in Chinese and Korean medicine are carefully prescribe for analgesic, antirheumatic and neurologic indications. However, in Korean folk medicine, a crude medical herb prepared from Aconitum is still used as form of a decoction or an unrefined tablet. Potential hazards of these medicinal herbs are poisoning and occasional fatalities due to low margins of safety. This study was conducted to document the adverse effects related to the use of these folk recipes that resulted in the emergency department (ED) admission. METHODS: A retrospective survey was conducted of 30 patients presented to the ED of a tertiary University Hospital with suspected adverse effects from folk recipes containing Aconitum over a three-year period from 1999 to 2001. The patients was analyzed according to sex, age, intention of use, residential area, vital signs on ED presentation, time to presentation, time to discharge or ECG normalization, frequency of chief complaints, and ECG abnormalities. RESULTS: The patients' mean age was around 67 years old. The patients were predominantly female (22 patients) and from rural areas (21 patients). The drug effects of Aconitum were not appreciated by almost all the patients. Of the chief complaints, nausea or vomiting was most common (76.7%). Time to presentation in the ED varied (30 ~ 930 minutes), which suggests that the occurrence of symptoms is directly related to the amount of aconitine in folk recipes containing Aconitum. Upon the arrival, most of the patients were hypotensive (MAP: 62 mmHg), but heart rates were normal or tachycardic. The ECG findings were variable, and, except for one case, normal sinus rhythm was restored within 24 hours without pharmacological intervention. CONCLUSION: This research demonstrates the need to emphasize public announcement to deter the injudicious use of folk recipes containing Aconitum species.
Aconitine* ; Aconitum* ; Aged ; Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; Eating* ; Electrocardiography ; Emergency Service, Hospital ; Female ; Heart Rate ; Humans ; Intention ; Medicine, Traditional ; Nausea ; Plants, Medicinal ; Poisoning ; Retrospective Studies ; Vital Signs ; Vomiting

Plants in Acaceae family are often considered as ornamental and medicines. However many of them have irritation properties. As medicinal plants some of them are recorded in Chinese Pharmacopoeia and they are figured as poisonous. Through investigating the domestic and overseas studied paper, the needle-like calcium oxalate crystal exits in the plants of Acaceae family could be thought as irritation components of them. This conclusion is same with the studied conclusion of our study group in the medicines plant of Pinellia ternate belonging to the Acaceae family and our studies showed that the needle-like calcium oxalate crystal was the main irritation component of raw P. ternate. The irritated mechanism of raphides is relevant to its special shape, the protein enzyme adhering to it and idioblasts in plants.
Araceae ; chemistry ; Calcium Oxalate ; analysis ; poisoning ; Conjunctival Diseases ; chemically induced ; Crystallization ; Dermatitis, Contact ; etiology ; Humans ; Mucous Membrane ; drug effects ; Pinellia ; chemistry ; Plants, Medicinal ; chemistry

Because of its officinal value, strychnos is widely used by clinic and individual. Since toxic dose and therapeutic dose are very close, strychnos poisoning cases are frequently reported. In this paper the chemical component, toxic dose, mechanisms of toxicity, poisoning symptom and pathological changes after strychnos poisoning are reviewed.
Alkalies/poisoning* ; Animals ; Central Nervous System/drug effects* ; Dose-Response Relationship, Drug ; Forensic Medicine ; Humans ; Immune System/drug effects* ; Lethal Dose 50 ; Plants, Medicinal/chemistry* ; Seeds/chemistry* ; Strychnine/poisoning* ; Strychnos/toxicity*

OBJECTIVEA study was carried out to investigate the effects of seed oil and sarcocarp oil of Hippophae rhamnoides on rats with experimental hepatocirrhosis, and comparison between the two.

METHODA rat model of experimental hepatocirrhosis was set up by feeding CCl4. Different concentration of seed oil and sarcocarp oil of H. rhamnoides were feed to those rats for 45 d, then the changes of activity of ALT in serum and SOD in liver were measured.

RESULTBoth of seed oil and sarcocarp oil can control the increase of ALT in serum and the decrease of SOD evidently, and the effect of seed oil was turn out to be a little better than sarcocarp oil.

CONCLUSIONSeed oil was more effective than sarcocarp oil of H. rhamnoides in alleviating liver injury caused by CCl4.

Alanine Transaminase ; blood ; Animals ; Carbon Tetrachloride Poisoning ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; isolation & purification ; pharmacology ; Fruit ; chemistry ; Hippophae ; chemistry ; Liver ; enzymology ; Liver Cirrhosis, Experimental ; etiology ; metabolism ; Male ; Plant Oils ; isolation & purification ; pharmacology ; Plants, Medicinal ; chemistry ; Rats ; Seeds ; chemistry ; Superoxide Dismutase ; metabolism